


Of Hunger And Fortitude

by GoldenSnowflake



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Biting, Eventual Fishsticks, Feral Behavior, First Time, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Marking, My God do I have a massive crush on the shark man, Non-mute Link, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Post-Canon, Selectively Mute Link, Size Difference, Size Kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 17:33:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14289876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenSnowflake/pseuds/GoldenSnowflake
Summary: Link travels to Zora's Domain to see how everyone is recovering after the defeat of Calamity Ganon. There's something else he's seeking out, even though he's not consciously aware of it.





	Of Hunger And Fortitude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I got Breath of the Wild, and uh, this happened.
> 
> I am completely obsessed with the Zora. They're so elegant and graceful and pretty. Oh my God, do I have a problem.
> 
> Here's nine pages of insanity I wrote on my phone because I don't know what to do with myself. I'm not sure how soon the next chapter will be completed, but rest assured that I'm doing almost nothing else in my free time. c:

When Link leaves Zora's Doman after defeating Vah Ruta, he feels strangely alive. A steady, thrumming energy flows through him where exhaustion should be, although he's sure that will come later. Mipha's blessing still rings in his mind like an airy lullaby as he follows the path south with Ruta's glowing beam above as if to guide his footsteps. The heavy stone and immense power of the ancient beast have existed for incomprehensibly long, yet hovering above its massive shadow in the darkness of the mist and stepping inside its immense mechanisms feel like they've awakened something familiar in him. Something unstoppable.

 

He doesn't let himself rest until he's followed the winding trails out of the deepest part of the mountains. It's there that the inhuman push of the ancient magic he encountered gives way to a familiar kind of exhaustion that makes his very bones ache. He takes refuge at a small Lizalfo camp he'd cleared on the way up, rolling his aching shoulders and taking shelter under the tarp stretched into a makeshift tent there. When he's far enough out of view that anything with dubious intent isn't likely to notice him, he sits down and lets out a breath. The tiredness weighing down his limbs is dizzying.

 

Sitting becomes laying not long after, and it's only a matter of minutes before Link is pulling the bulky shield off of his back and laying his sword in the dirt where he can reach it easily if anything comes by.

 

He isn't sure why he didn't stay in Zora's Domain overnight. Something in him kept him from even considering it. It felt like his business there was completed; almost like the Zora deserved time without the famed Hylian champion running about, to rejoice and exist in the vulnerability of relearning how to live in peace, as their own race.

 

One thing Link truly feels comfortable within is solitude. The chill of the wind and the whispering of leaves have become his home, and that peace lets his mind rest, something he hasn't yet learned how to do in the glow of lamplight and the chatter of people. This privacy, even with its dangers, feels right after achieving something so immense. Even though the prince had told him that the domain would always welcome him.

 

The thought of Sidon makes Link's chest squeeze sharply and he presses his eyes shut, lifting a hand to his breast at the feeling. The phantom thrill of battling and taming Vah Ruta drums his heart against his ribs and makes his stomach feel weightless inside him. The lilt of the prince's voice and the radiance of his eyes cause something harsh and claustrophobic in his chest, and Link observes the feeling distantly, letting it pass as the gnawing desire to sleep fills his body. The kingdom needs him and his princess is locked inside the castle, fading and calling out. Any other worries can be set aside for later.

 

\---

 

The next time he enters Zora's domain is much later. He goes there on no particular errand save for the warm, formless voice of guidance inside that tells him to run, to travel, to see the faces he still worries for safe and at peace.

 

It starts to hitch his breath and twine in his stomach as he approaches the otherworldly glow of the columns and arches leading to the heart of the city. This breathless wonder thrills in him every time he comes upon one of the lesser kingdoms he has fought to liberate, but the glossy, luminous outcroppings of stone and the rising whisper of a hundred streams and waterfalls makes him so exhilarated he's almost frightened.

 

The guards perk up upon seeing him hurry across the long bridge, Rivan crying out happily and raising a hand in greeting as his daughter cracks a small, rare smile. The blinding sunlight cuts a beam between them as the Hylian comes to a stop before them, resting his hands on his hips and huffing out a breath with a grin.

 

“Link!” Rivan beams at him, striking the butt of his spear against the stone with his exclamation. “What a marvelous surprise! I'm sure Prince Sidon will be delighted to see you. I'll inform him that you have arrived in our domain.” The Hylian's slowing heart rate flutters at that and he nods to hide the little rise of nervous energy. He watches the male Zora's back as he trots toward the magnificent heart of the city before turning toward the Eastern Reservoir to say hello to the guard whose post he remembers it to be.

 

The eerie glow of the arches and sculptures surround Link as he approaches the center of the domain, the chiming voices of children playing ringing out over the roar of the waterfalls below. Guards are training in a small alcove behind the entryway to the inn he'd sought refuge in a handful of times while preparing to fight Ruta, and he catches sight of a petite female nearby he thinks he recognizes as Laflat, the studious bookkeeper he'd spoken to about the dangers of Lynels. It feels familiar here yet there's somehow a current of newness and life beneath his boots and in his lungs when he takes a deep breath of the cool air. When he hears Sidon's voice from above near the throne room, his stomach lurches and his knees feel suddenly unstable.

 

“Link!”

 

The Hylian cranes his neck to find the prince, and backs up a few paces when, in typical, exuberant fashion, Sidon leaps gracefully from the floor above to land with a flourish before him. His grin is captivating when he rises to his full height. “My dearest friend! How good it is to see you!” The prince approaches him immediately, large hands moving to rest on Link's shoulders before sliding to his arms with a firm squeeze. “How have your travels been? Are you well? You look incredibly healthy!”

 

Link laughs at this, breathless from Sidon's enthusiasm. There's a brief moment where the clawed hands gripping him start to make heat rise in his skin to blossom at the points of contact, but the prince steps graciously away, his yellow eyes bold and bright with cheer. Link notices now that people are looking at them, recognizing him as the champion who returned peace to their home, letting Sidon have his conversation in favor of interrupting to greet Link themselves.

 

“Are you here on business? Has Princess Zelda sent you?”

 

Link breaks his silence to utter a rare, “I'm just here to visit.”

 

Sidon grins again at that, deadly-sharp teeth glinting like diamonds in the sunlight. “Wonderful! Then let me accompany you and make your stay as pleasant as possible. It's so good to welcome you to our proud home under peaceful circumstances.”

 

It's not often that Link willingly makes himself the center of attention, but the Zora prince makes it easy, chatting and leading Link eagerly from location to location. They stop at the Inn and make arrangements for the Hylian to have the nicest suite for as long as he decides to visit, and at Sidon's insistence that he eat after a long day of traveling, their next stop is at Marot Mart, where the prince helps the cheerful shopkeeper load their guest up with a variety of fish, herbs, and spices. Despite his stony gaze, neither the innkeeper nor anyone at the market will accept his money. Sidon then exclaims that his father will be delighted to welcome the fabled champion back to their kingdom.

 

The Hylian realizes distantly as he gazes up at the graceful, charismatic prince that this might be why he gets along with Sidon so well. Sidon's kind words and sweeping gestures allow Link to have his comfortable silence and manage to draw most invasive, inquiring stares away from him. They reach the top of the curving staircase, and Sidon's voice drops into a more reverent tone. “Father, the Hylian champion has returned to our kingdom to wish us well.”

 

Dorephan is just as Link remembers him: immense, watchful, and with great intelligence in his gaze. The eerie glow of the throne room's still, shallow pools illuminate his silhouette. The king is centuries old, and as he stands before him, tiny in comparison, Link feels it.

 

His voice is booming and jovial. “Link! What a pleasant surprise.” Link offers a solemn nod, which the Zora king accepts as a suitable response. “I do hope my son is giving you a proper tour of our lovely domain. You will always be welcome here.”

 

“I told him the same, Father.” Link's gaze moves to Sidon and that caged, claustrophobic feeling fills his lungs again. It feels like a hand has slipped through his ribcage and squeezed his heart when the prince's pale eyes meet his. “Come, my friend.”

 

The cool afternoon air brings goosebumps to his skin as Link matches Sidon's graceful stride. “I'd like to show you a place I go to think when I desire solitude.” The Hylian blinks up at him as the breeze ruffles the colorful fins on his arms and the royal sashes draped around his middle. “I worry that I may serve as a distraction when others come to pay Mipha their respects. While she is my sister, she is princess to all Zora. I want her statue to be a place of comfort to those who seek her guidance.”

 

They cross one of the curving, climbing pathways that tangle intricately like a luminous web around the city, leading toward the mountains that enclose most of Zorana. Beautiful pools and small almost-enclosed chambers dot the rocks here, providing more privacy and places to store weapons for those on lookout around the outskirts of the domain. Link imagines that this is what the ornate, almost-buildings are for, at least, his mind attuned to locating the best places for stashes and defense. He follows Sidon up a sloped path lined by fir trees and lantern-posts.

 

The area where the ground flattens out has become a small clearing that the trees nearly enclose. There's a pond that has filled with rainwater off of the mountains, and encircling it is thick, lush grass speckled with flowers and pale mushrooms. It's large enough for a Zora to swim in comfortably and, now that Ruta's constant storms have stopped, safe from eroding.

 

Sidon strides ahead of him and moves into a dive in a way that's impossibly graceful, slipping beneath the surface of the pool. The hammerheaded Zora reemerges further from the bank, eyes piercing and expression unreadable. In his presence, Link feels profoundly clumsy and unnatural in relation to water. He sheds the light armor he'd worn for the journey through smooth breaths that hold back any nervousness threatening to burst out of his chest. When he slips off his tunic, there's a splash from the water. The thought that Sidon was startled flashes through his mind but Link discards it immediately. This isn't a slog through a river to fight a Bokoblin that has been shooting arrows at him or the fight to tame Vah Ruta. This is a leisurely excursion, and Link intends to truly enjoy it, without the burden of holsters or waterlogged fabric. He sets his pants on the haphazard pile of clothing, the air buffeting over his skin everywhere but the area his fitted under-shorts cover, and follows Sidon.

 

The water is surprisingly warm when Link first lowers his feet beneath the surface and then lets himself slip off of the bank; just enough to feel cool against his skin. He breathes in the crisp air, allowing himself to simply exist for a moment, before paddling toward the center of the pool and toward Sidon.

 

The prince's voice seems somehow sharper when reflected off the water's surface. “You are quite agile, dear Link.” His lips split into a crooked, jagged grin and Link's lungs compress as his stomach goes into knots. “For a Hylian, of course.”

 

Link's eyes widen in shock at the jab. He retaliates when his mind catches back up with him by swiping a hand out, splashing the Zora in the face. Sidon shouts in disbelief.

 

When he turns to face the Hylian again, the glint in his eyes is arresting. “Think carefully about challenging a Zora in his element.”

 

Link does just that before grinning and splashing him again.

 

“ _Honestly,_ ” Sidon exclaims, turning his head away although Link highly doubts it fazes the Zora to get water in his mouth or in his eyes. Link backpedals away, and when the prince looks at him, there's delight on his face mixed with a tinge of something alarmingly feral. He darts toward Link before he has time to react.

 

The breath is knocked out of his lungs when the smooth edge of the bank hits his back. His hands fly to the edge to steady himself.

 

When he opens his eyes, Sidon is directly in front of him.

 

Gold eyes stare down into his, the prince's broad, powerful chest caging him in. Link hears himself gasp, his gaze fluttering everywhere - the wash of smooth, cream-colored skin, the graceful shoulders and slender neck, the Zora's mouth - he feels like he's been punched in the gut when his eyes fix on it. He realizes he's staring, face hot and mouth hanging open. Sidon catches himself with a startled expression and darts across the pool. He hovers there, composing himself, and Link blinks rapidly to clear his head.

 

“You're fortunate that Zora are too refined to see Hylians as prey,” he utters, his voice lilting and seemingly unshaken. Link gives him an unimpressed look and swims toward him. The thought that Sidon might be able to sense his fluttering heartbeat through keen predatory senses is pushed away as soon as it appears - he can’t worry about that. Not the time. His damp bangs cling to his face as he treads water, and he shakes his head to get them out of his eyes. Sidon watches him serenely, seeming amused. “Your considerable courage makes up for your lack of natural defenses, however.” Link smiles at this, giving a nod. “Your courage in particular, my dear friend, has inspired and infected my people. The proud Zora are truly in your debt.”

 

The Hylian shakes his head dismissively and moves to float on his back. Praise has never been necessary. He has done what was needed of him, nothing more. The distant rush of water and the calls of wildlife surround them, filling the comfortable silence between them. Softer splashes than his own drift across the small pond with Sidon's movements. Time passes like this, undisturbed by the world outside. Link glances toward the Zora prince at one point to find him drifting on his back as well, watching the sky above them. The elegant shape of him makes his throat tighten and Link quickly looks away.

 

“Ah.” Link doesn't tear his gaze from the cloudless sky overhead, but he doesn't have to. Every fiber of his being is attuned to the Zora prince. The seclusion of the clearing amplifies his words. “I cannot express how marvelous it feels for the kingdom to be at peace.” Sidon glides through the water, nearly soundless. “The last time I felt this way, I was too young to realize what a gift it was.”

 

The Hylian supposes he remembers that. He was awake back then, accompanying Zelda on her trips to research Vah Ruta with Mipha. It feels like a sort of vertigo to envision the experiences he had then, in another era, a time he didn't really belong to any more than this one. It makes every bird call, every gust of wind, every water droplet on his skin feel alien and somehow more real. For him, the space in between then and now was nothing but a swath of darkness.

 

Then again, Link supposes that was how it was for everyone who was awake during those years, too.

 

“The noble Zora can finally live in peace and harmony! Thanks to you, in no small part.” The dramatic gesture Sidon makes ripples the water, and a smile comes to Link's face, one of amusement at the prince's flowery sincerity. The familiar expressiveness makes something bright flutter in his chest, but the praise is something he has never learned to be comfortable with. Link drops from floating on his back to swim to the edge of the pond, water cascading from his jaw and his hair as he pulls himself up onto the bank. The sound of movement just behind him doesn't register in his mind until he has turned to dangle his feet in the pond and Sidon is lunging into him.

 

The prince makes a startled sound in his throat and muscular arms shoot out to stop him, making a thunderous splash. Link gawks at him, leaning back on instinct, and his heart stops altogether. Part of him realizes that Sidon must have thought he was getting out and meant to follow him, but that doesn't seem important at the moment.

 

Sidon's face is in his, the Zora's looming presence powerful where it rises over his small form. His yellow eyes are wide, his pupils narrowed to slits in shock. His warm breath gusts from his parted lips in a short exhale. Link's entire body goes painfully hot and icy cold all at once.

 

“Link-“

 

His voice comes out in a shocked stutter. He is completely still.

 

“P-pardon m-“

 

Link leans forward and presses his mouth to the Zora's lips.

 

All of existence stops for several seconds.

 

When he pulls away, Sidon is frozen. Link's senses try to catch up to him and his breath shudders out as he stares into the prince's pale eyes.

 

A thousand unnamable thoughts run through his golden stare in a heartbeat, his broad chest hitching. Then Sidon surges over him and captures his mouth.

 

Link's back hits the ground as the Zora makes a broken sound, hands coming to hold his face as Link scrambles for purchase along his broad crest. Sidon kisses him like he wants to devour him. Link struggles to open his mouth wide enough to match his and shudders when razor-sharp teeth graze his bottom lip.

 

Link wants to be overpowered and possessed and destroyed; wants it badly. The vast stretches of Hyrule and the living things within it have always made Link feel small, but in no way less powerful and capable, yet now the lithe, immense shape of Sidon's body makes an achingly sweet feeling of being devastatingly fragile curl in his gut, and he lets out a weak sound and offers himself up to the Zora prince, drunk off the heady feeling of it. Sidon's mouth leaves his and brushes the corner of his lips before closing on the side of his neck. It's a bright and painful sensation, Link's fingers digging into Sidon's smooth skin as he sucks a hard mark into Link's pale flesh so fervently it's as if he's barely conscious of it. He moves lower, pressing frantic kisses and swipes of his tongue in a messy trail across the Hylian's collarbone and chest, and when Sidon reaches his stomach, he sinks his teeth into Link's side.

 

It's hard and sharp and a shocked sound leaves Link's mouth as his eyes screw shut in pain. Sidon is almost growling, and the thing that scares Link most is that the agony only makes his limbs heavier and the heat in his gut pulse hotter. He realizes, dazed and rattled, that he would let Sidon do anything to him.

 

The Zora pulls hard at the mark before releasing Link with a barely-audible, wet sound that makes the Hylian's stomach flip. Sidon looks up at him with pupils so wide they're nearly eclipsing his irises, breathing hard. His voice is weak and fraught with emotion. “ _Link..._ ”

 

Link blinks back at him, his own chest heaving as he gasps for breath, burning from his ears all the way down to his shoulders. Sidon's eyes flutter closed and he brushes the side of his face, a long fin and a sharp cheekbone, against Link's middle. He's so warm that he hardly feels the hot blood running in little trails down his skin and dripping into the grass. The prince's expression is one of need and what the Hylian perceives as regret for hurting him, but there's a feral energy running through Sidon that seems so different from him yet so _Sidon_. When he blinks up at Link again his eyes are more familiar, his lips parted in awe. He moves a shaking hand to the Zora's face and touches his sharp, regal jaw, the corner of the mouth he never let himself hope he would taste.

 

“Forgive me...” The prince's voice is hoarse with desire. “...for forgetting myself.”

 

Link smiles at him, dazed and still unsteady from the fluttering of his heartbeat. Resting over him, his gaze so open, the prince is excruciatingly handsome.

 

The Hylian champion pushes himself into a sitting position and Sidon straightens, backing up and putting space between them. Link's body is a frenetic mess of unbearable heat and his side stings angrily where the air drifts over the gouges in his flesh. He pushes himself on shaky arms off of the side of the pool and swallows a grunt when the cool embrace of the water encases him again, pulling the blood from his wound in lazy black whorls. He looks up at Sidon, the Zora's expression conflicted but working into a more dignified blank. He turns away from the smaller Hylian wordlessly. Link is grateful for Sidon forcing himself not to hover and fret, a fragment of calm seeping back into him at being allowed to take care of himself.

 

“Prince Sidon!”

 

The voice and the rustle of footsteps catches him off guard, and Sidon jumps, throwing droplets from the graceful fins framing his face. Link jumps too, but it's indistinguishable from the ripples he's making treading water. A young female Zora adorned in armor approaches them at a jog. “Master Link! My apologies - Princess Zelda has sent word that she requires your presence in Hyrule Castle. The matter is urgent.”

 

Sidon is himself again, moving closer to the bank, posture regal and his voice calm. “Thank you, Torfeau. Be sure to have the fastest horse and a guard prepared to escort Link to the border of the domain. I'll accompany him to the bridge shortly.” She nods, turning to hurry back to the epicenter of the kingdom.

 

The Hylian is looking up at him when Sidon faces him again. A rush of desperation fills him and Link realizes he doesn't want to leave; that everything in him is screaming to melt against Sidon's chest and never let go. The prince's eyes, less guarded now that they are alone again, are also conflicted, a glint of something almost like fear there at even wishing for a moment that Zelda's royal knight would stay near him when the princess requires his help. He glides toward Link in that eerily effortless way, lifting his clawed hands and cupping the Hylian's face. His thumbs stroke reverently over Link's cheekbones and gingerly over the tips of his pointed ears, sending a violent thrill down the blonde's spine.

 

“Dear Link.” Sidon's voice makes his eyes flutter closed and his heart speed up. He treads closer, body superheating as the space between them shrinks. “I implore you: come back to me when all is well. You are ... you are magnificent, Link, and I desperately wish to see you again.”

 

A soft breath escapes him at the prince's words and he leans into the cool, smooth palms and fingers against his skin. The feeling of being incredibly small and at the mercy of something frightening and powerful twists in his stomach.

 

Link looks at Sidon again and nods, prompting a wide-eyed look of awe and delight that makes him remember why, when he first entered Zora's Domain and agreed to help tame Vah Ruta, he thought Sidon was so utterly and completely striking.

 

“I am so grateful. Come, let's prepare you for your journey home.”


End file.
